Automatic parking system and automatic parking method

ABSTRACT

An automatic parking system is provided. The automatic parking system includes a camera processor that acquires images around a subject vehicle, converts the acquired images into external images and synthesizes the external images. A sensor processor measured spaced distances between the subject vehicle and surrounding vehicles. A parking space recognizing unit periodically receives the spaced distances and the external images and comparing the consecutive external images with the spaced distances using an image recognition technology to recognize parking areas. A controller calculates a moving path between a current position of the subject vehicle and an optimal parking area and operates the subject vehicle based on the moving path.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/935,984, filed on Sep. 11, 2015, and claimsunder 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2015-0114025 and 10-2016-0184300, filed on Aug. 12, 2015 and Dec. 30,2016, respectively, the entire contents of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to automatic parking, and moreparticularly, to an automatic parking system and an automatic parkingmethod that use detection of a parking area.

Description of the Related Art

An automatic parking system is a system that enables a driver toconveniently park a vehicle by determining a position of an obstacleusing a camera or an ultrasonic sensor attached to a rear portion of thevehicle, and selecting parallel parking or perpendicular parking, thenthe automatic parking system performs a predetermined operation.

In particular, for an automatic parking system using a camera or otherimaging device, in response to receive a driver selection of a parkingposition while checking a rear visual field through a monitor, theautomatic parking system automatically operates a steering wheel of thevehicle using a sensor value, thereby safely parking the vehicle.Further, a parking area may be set in advance using the camera and asensor, and the automatic parking system performs automatic parkingusing data obtained by the camera and the sensor. The camera may sense afront area, a rear area, and a side area and be implemented by aroundview monitoring (AVM). In general, the AVM system provides only thefunction of displaying images around the vehicle to a driver, and thus,the driver is required to determine a parking condition from the imagesprovided by the AVM system.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic parkingsystem that performs automatic parking by setting an optimal parkingarea using a sensor, and an automatic parking method.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automaticparking system that obtains an image around a vehicle using a pluralityof imaging devices installed in the vehicle, converts the obtained imageto recognize an available parking area, and provides a driver with amoving path that corresponds to the parking area, and an automaticparking method.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automaticparking system and an automatic parking system capable of remotelyperforming an automatic parking mode to adjust a spaced distance betweena subject vehicle and vehicles parked on both sides of the subjectvehicle to provide convenience when exiting the vehicle.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be understoodby the following description, and become apparent with reference to theexemplary embodiments of the present invention. Also, it is obvious tothose skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains thatthe objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized bythe means as claimed and combinations thereof.

According to an aspect of the claimed invention, an automatic parkingsystem may include: a camera processor configured to acquire imagesaround a subject vehicle, and convert the acquired images into externalimages and synthesize the external images; a sensor processor configuredto measure spaced distances between the subject vehicle and surroundingvehicles; a parking space recognizing unit configured to periodicallyreceive the spaced distances and the external images and sequentiallycompare the consecutive external images with the spaced distances usingan image recognition technology to recognize parking areas; and acontroller configured to calculate a moving path between a currentposition of the subject vehicle and an optimal parking area among theparking areas and operate the subject vehicle based on the moving path,in which the parking space recognizing unit may be configured to detectthe parking areas based on a length and a width of the subject vehicle.

The parking space recognizing unit may be configured to extract featurepoints of the consecutive images using the image recognition technology,match the feature points of the two consecutive images, deletemismatched feature points, and match valid feature points to recognizethe parking areas. The controller may be configured to operate thesubject vehicle to prevent the subject vehicle from colliding withobstacles using data acquired by the sensor processor and the cameraprocessor, while the subject vehicle travels along the moving path.

The sensor processor may be configured to sense spaced distances betweenthe surrounding vehicles positioned at a side of the subject vehicle inthe optimal parking area and the controller may be configured to operatethe subject vehicle to adjust a first spaced distance from a passengerseat side vehicle positioned on a passenger seat side of the subjectvehicle to be a predetermined reference distance based on the spacedistances. The controller may further be configured to adjust the firstspaced distance to be the reference distance when the first spaceddistance is less than the reference distance and then determine whethera second spaced distance between the subject vehicle and a driver's seatside vehicle positioned on the driver's seat of the subject vehicle isequal to or greater than the reference distance.

Additionally, the controller may be configured to operate the subjectvehicle to adjust the second spaced distance to be the referencedistance when the second spaced distance is equal to or greater than thereference distance. The controller may be configured to operate thesubject vehicle to adjust the second spaced distance to be apredetermined minimum spaced distance when the second spaced distance isless than the reference distance. The minimum spaced distance may be setto be a distance between a main lane positioned between the subjectvehicle and the driver's seat side vehicle and the subject vehicle.

The controller may be configured to determine whether a second spaceddistance between the subject vehicle and a driver's seat side vehiclepositioned on the driver's seat side of the subject vehicle is equal toor greater than a predetermined critical distance when the first spaceddistance is less than the reference distance and the critical distancemay be set to be a value obtained by adding a predetermined minimumspaced distance to a moving distance of the first spaced distance toadjust the first spaced distance to the reference distance. The sensorprocessor may be configured to detect surrounding parking around theoptimal parking area and a parking line.

The automatic parking system may further include a display controllerconfigured to output a notification to a driver regarding the parkingareas, in which the controller may be configured to operate the vehicleto be driven in the optimal parking area selected by the driver. Thecontroller may be configured to adjust steering, acceleration, brake,gear shift, and parking brake of the subject vehicle. The external imagemay be a top view image of the subject vehicle viewed from a top of thesubject vehicle.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an automaticparking method for automatically parking a subject vehicle may include:setting the automatic parking mode; detecting parking areas usingexternal images around the subject vehicle, spaced distances between thesubject vehicle and surrounding vehicles, and a length and a width ofthe subject vehicle; selecting an optimal parking area among the parkingareas; and automatically parking the subject vehicle in the optimalparking area, in which in the detecting of the parking areas, theparking areas may be recognized by sequentially comparing theconsecutive external images with the spaced distances using an imagerecognition technology.

The automatic parking method may further include: terminating theautomatic parking mode, after the automatically parking of the subjectvehicle, in which the terminating of the automatic parking mode may beperformed by turning off an automatic parking mode switch or shifting agear to parking. In addition, when an automatic parking mode switch isturned off or a gear is shifted to parking, the automatic parking modemay be terminated. When any one of gear shift, steering change, andbrake operation is performed, the automatic parking mode may be stopped.

The spaced distances may include a first spaced distance between thesubject vehicle and a passenger seat side vehicle positioned on apassenger side of the subject vehicle and a second spaced distancebetween the subject vehicle and a driver's seat side vehicle positionedon the driver's seat of the subject vehicle and in the automaticallyparking of the subject vehicle, the subject vehicle may be operated toadjust the first spaced distance and the second spaced distance to be apredetermined reference distance. The detecting of the parking areas mayinclude: extracting feature points of the consecutive images using theimage recognition technology; deleting mismatched feature points bymatching the feature points of the two consecutive images; and matchingimages based on valid feature points.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing components of an automatic parking systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a sequence of an automatic parking methodaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a parking area at the time of parallelparking according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a parking area in which there is a parkingline at the time of parallel parking according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a parking area at the time of perpendicularparking according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a parking area in which there is a parkingline at the time of perpendicular parking according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an image of a top view format obtained bybeing converted and synthesized by virtual camera modeling according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8 to 11 are diagrams showing a process of recognizing a parkingarea of a parking space recognizing unit according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a spaced distance at thetime of automatic parking according to a second exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the adjustment of the spaced distanceat the time of the automatic parking according to the second exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similarterm as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such aspassenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses,trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety ofboats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles,electric vehicles, combustion, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g.fuels derived from resources other than petroleum).

Although exemplary embodiment is described as using a plurality of unitsto perform the exemplary process, it is understood that the exemplaryprocesses may also be performed by one or plurality of modules.Additionally, it is understood that the term controller/control unitrefers to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor. Thememory is configured to store the modules and the processor isspecifically configured to execute said modules to perform one or moreprocesses which are described further below.

Furthermore, control logic of the present invention may be embodied asnon-transitory computer readable media on a computer readable mediumcontaining executable program instructions executed by a processor,controller/control unit or the like. Examples of the computer readablemediums include, but are not limited to, ROM, RAM, compact disc(CD)-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, flash drives, smart cards andoptical data storage devices. The computer readable recording medium canalso be distributed in network coupled computer systems so that thecomputer readable media is stored and executed in a distributed fashion,e.g., by a telematics server or a Controller Area Network (CAN).

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items.

Unless specifically stated or obvious from context, as used herein, theterm “about” is understood as within a range of normal tolerance in theart, for example within 2 standard deviations of the mean. “About” canbe understood as within 10%, 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 0.5%,0.1%, 0.05%, or 0.01% of the stated value. Unless otherwise clear fromthe context, all numerical values provided herein are modified by theterm “about.”

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so thatthose skilled in the art may easily practice the present invention.However, the present invention may be implemented in various differentforms and is not limited to the exemplary embodiments provided in thepresent description.

Portions unrelated to the description are omitted to obviously describethe present invention, and components that are the same as or similar toeach other will be denoted by the same reference numerals throughout thespecification A case in which any one part is “connected” with the otherpart includes a case in which the parts are “directly connected” witheach other and a case in which the parts are “electrically connected”with each other with other elements interposed therebetween.

When it is described that any one part is “on” the other part, it maymean that the part is directly on the other part or any other part isinterposed therebetween. On the contrary, when it is described that anyone part is “directly on” the other part, there is no other partinterposed therebetween. Terms “first”, “second”, “third”, and the likeare used to describe various parts, components, areas, layers, and/orsections, but are not limited thereto. These terms are used only todistinguish one part, component, area, layer, or section from anotherpart, component, area, layer, or section. Accordingly, a first part, afirst component, a first area, a first layer, or a first section to bedescribed below may indicate a second part, a second component, a secondarea, a second layer, or a second section without departing from thescope of the present invention.

Technical terms used herein are merely to describe a specific exemplaryembodiment, but are not intended to limit the present invention. Terms“below”, “above”, and the like indicating a relative space may be usedto more easily describe a relationship between one part with anotherpart illustrated in the drawings. These terms are intended to includeother meanings or operations of a device that is being used, in additionto meanings intended in the drawings. For example, when the device inthe drawing is inverted, any part described as being “below” other partsmay be described as being “above” the other parts. Therefore, theexemplary term “below” includes both of an upper direction and a lowerdirection. The device may rotate by 90° or other angles, and the termsindicating a relative space are interpreted according thereto.

Although not defined otherwise, all terms including technical terms andscientific terms used herein have the same meanings as those generallyunderstood by a person having ordinary knowledge in the art to which thepresent invention pertains. Terms defined in a dictionary generally usedare additionally interpreted as having a meaning consistent with therelated art documents and contents currently disclosed, and unlessdefined otherwise, are not interpreted as having an ideal or veryofficial meaning.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so as tobe easily practiced by a person having ordinary knowledge in the art towhich the present invention pertains. However, the present invention maybe implemented in various different forms and is not limited to theexemplary embodiments provided in the present description.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing components of an automatic parking systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referringto FIG. 1, the automatic parking system 1 may include a sensor unit 100,a parking space recognizing unit 150, a controller 200, and a drivingunit 300. The controller 200 may be configured to operate the othercomponents of the parking system 1. The data acquired by the sensor unit100 may be transmitted to the parking space recognizing unit 150 and thecontroller 200 and the parking space recognizing unit 150 may beconfigured to calculate the data acquired by the sensor unit 100. Thecontroller 200 may be configured to operate the driving unit 300 to parkthe subject vehicle in the parking area calculated by the parking spacerecognizing unit 150.

The sensor unit 100 may include a camera processor 110, a Lidarprocessor 120, and a radar processor 130. The camera processor 110 maybe configured to sense a front area, a rear area, and/or a side area ofa subject vehicle, and transmit data obtained therethrough to thecontroller (e.g., an electronic control unit ECU level). The cameraprocessor 110 may include an image sensor, an image processor, and acamera motor control unit (MCU). For example, the image sensor may beconfigured to sense an image of a subject photographed through a lens,the image processor may be configured to receive the sensed data fromthe image sensor and process the received data, and the camera MCU maybe configured to receive the processed data from the image processor.

For example, the camera processor 110 may include an around viewmonitoring (AVM) system. The AVM may be implemented by installing aplurality of camera devices for photographing the periphery of thevehicle and acquiring images in all directions of the vehicle. The AVMprovides the driver with the images photographed through the pluralityof camera devices, thereby securing a field of vision around the subjectvehicle and eliminating blind spots.

As another example, the camera processor 110 may be configured toacquire data regarding a preceding vehicle, a forward lane, a precedingcyclist, a traffic sign, active high beam control (AHB), wheel detection(e.g., data to more rapidly recognize another vehicle through vehiclewheel recognition with respect to a close cut-in vehicle that comes intoa field-of-view (FOV) of a camera), a traffic light, road marking (e.g.,arrow on road), vehicle detection (VD) at any angle (e.g., data forrecognizing a vehicle with respect to all driving directions or anglesof the preceding vehicle), road profile (e.g., data for improving ridingquality through suspension control by recognizing a shape of forwardroad (unevenness, a speed bump, or a groove)), semantic free space(e.g., boundary labeling), a general object (neighboring vehicle, etc.),advanced path planning (e.g., data for predicting a vehicle driving pathby deep learning through surrounding environment even on a road withoutlane or a contaminated road), odometry (e.g., data for combination withrecognition information of global positioning system (GPS) byrecognizing a landmark on a driving road), a parking line and aninterval between vehicles for parking, etc.

The Lidar processor 120 may be connected to a Lidar device which is asensor, and the Lidar device may be configured to sense a front area, arear area, and a side area of the vehicle. The Lidar device may beconfigured of a laser transmission module, a laser detection module, asignal collection and processing module, and a data transmission andreception module, and as a light source of a laser, laser light sourceswith a wavelength in a wavelength range of about 250 nm to 11 μm or withvariable wavelength may be used. Further, the Lidar device may beclassified into a time of flight (TOP) type and a phase shift typeaccording to a signal modulation scheme.

The radar processor 130 may be connected to a radar device which is asensor configured to sense an object in the front area, the rear area,and the side area of the vehicle. The radar device may be a sensordevice using an electromagnetic wave to measure a distance, a speed, orand angle of an object. When using the radar device, it may be possibleto sense an object within about 150 m in a horizontal angle range ofabout 30 degrees using a scheme of a frequency modulation carrier wave(FMCW), or a pulse carrier. The radar processor 130 may be configured toprocess data sensed and output by the radar device, and this processingmay include magnification of the sensed forward object and focusing onan area of the object in the entire view area.

The Lidar processor 120 and the radar processor 130 may be configured tomeasure a spaced distance between the subject vehicle and thesurrounding vehicles or obstacles while the subject vehicle is beingdriven and parked and may be configured to transmit data regarding thespaced distance to the controller 200. The controller 200 may then beconfigured to prevent a potential collision between the subject vehicleand the obstacles or surrounding vehicles based on the data regardingthe spaced distance.

The parking space recognizing unit 150 may be configured to recognizethe parking areas in which the subject vehicle may be parked byreceiving the images and the data regarding the spaced distance obtainedusing the sensor unit 100 including the camera processor 110. Theparking space recognizing unit 150 may further be configured torecognize the parking space and detect a vehicle trajectory by comparingtwo consecutive images from the images periodically input. The dataregarding the spaced distance between the subject vehicle and thesurrounding vehicles (or obstacles) acquired using the Lidar processor120 and the Radar processor 130 may help the parking space recognizingunit 150 to recognize and calculate the parking areas.

The controller 200 may be an electronic control unit (ECU), and may bean upper controller configured to operate multiple electronic devicesused within a vehicle. For example, the controller 200 may be configuredto operate all of processors belonging to the processor level andcontrollers belonging to the controller level. The controller 200 may beconfigured to receive sensing data from the processors, generate acontrol command to operate a controller in consideration ofcircumstances, and transmit the control command to the controllers. Inthe present specification, for convenience of explanation, the ECU levelis described as a higher level than the processor level, however, theremay be a case in which one of the processors belonging to the processorlevel operates as an ECU, or a case in which two processors are combinedto operate as an ECU.

Furthermore, the driving unit 300 may include a display controller, asteering controller, a drive controller, a brake controller, a gearcontroller, and the like. Each of the controllers may be configured tooperate components of a vehicle based on the control command receivedfrom the controller 200. In particular, the display controller may beconfigured to provide the driver with information regarding a specificsituation or output a warning regarding a dangerous situation. Thedisplay controller may be configured to generate an audio signal, avideo signal, or a haptic signal for providing a warning of drivingsituation of the vehicle and dangerous situation. For example, thedisplay controller may be configured to output a situation explanationand a warning sound in an audio, and output a message visually regardingthe situation or a warning message through a head up (HUD) display or aside mirror display. Alternatively, the display controller may beconfigured to operate a vibration motor mounted in a handle to generatewarning vibration.

The steering controller may be configured to operate a motor drivingpower steering (MDPS) system driving a steering wheel. For example, whena collision risk of the vehicle is detected, the steering controller maybe configured to adjust a steering of the vehicle in a direction inwhich the collision may be avoided or a damage may be minimized. Thedriving controller may be configured to perform deceleration,acceleration, on/off of an engine to drive the vehicle. For example, thedriving controller may be configured to decelerate the vehicle when thecollision risk is detected while the vehicle is being driven, and turnthe engine on or off at the start or end of the driving of the vehiclebased on the control command of the controller 200. The brake controllermay be configured to operate a brake of the vehicle, and adjust anengagement amount of a brake pedal. For example, when a front collisionrisk is detected, the brake controller may be configured toautomatically operate an emergency brake based on the control command ofthe controller 200 regardless of whether the driver operates the brake.

Meanwhile, hereinabove, the processors, the ECUs, and the controllersare described as independent components with reference to theaccompanying drawings, but it is to be understood that the presentinvention is not necessarily limited thereto. Two or more processors maybe integrated as one processor and may work in conjunction with eachother, two or more processors and an ECU may be integrated as onedevice, two or more controllers may be integrated as one controller andmay work in conjunction with each other, two or more controllers and anECU may be integrated as one device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a sequence of an automatic parking methodaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Theautomatic parking system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention refers to a partially automated parking system (PAPS).

Referring to FIG. 2, the driver may set an automatic parking modeprovided in the vehicle. By setting the automatic parking mode, avehicle mode may be changed from a standby mode to an active mode inwhich automatic parking may be performed. A method of setting theautomatic parking mode may include a first type method in which thedriver executes the automatic parking mode while remaining in thedriver's seat of the vehicle, and a second type method in which thedriver executes the automatic parking mode extraneous to the vehicle orwhile remaining in a seat other than the driver's seat using a remotecontroller (S10).

The sensor unit may be configured to sense the surrounding area of thesubject vehicle to calculate a plurality of parking areas in which thesubject vehicle may be parked. The sensor unit may further be configuredto sense parking lines, curbs disposed near the parking lines, an emptyspace between surrounding vehicles, etc. The controller may then beconfigured to calculate parking areas based on a length and a width ofthe subject vehicle (S20). The controller may also be configured todisplay to the driver data on the calculated parking areas using thedisplay controller.

The driver may select a parking area that is determined as an optimalparking area through a display device (e.g., an input device on thedisplay) or a separate switch within the vehicle (the first typemethod), or may select a parking area that is determined as an optimalparking area using a remote controller (the second type method). Inparticular, the controller may be configured to provide a recommendationto the driver regarding a parking area that is determined as an optimalparking area among the parking areas (S30). When an optimal parking areais determined, the controller may be configured to calculate a movingpath between a current position and the optimal parking area. Thecontroller may further be configured to drive the subject vehicle basedon the moving path, automatically drive the subject vehicle, and operatethe steering controller, the driving controller, the brake controller,and the gear controller.

Particularly, the controller may be configured to operate the subjectvehicle at a speed of less than about 10 km/h, and adjust decelerationor acceleration of the vehicle, gear change, braking and parkingbraking, etc. The sensor unit may be configured to sense a distance froman obstacle during automatic parking of the subject vehicle, and thecontroller may be configured to determine possibility of collision basedon the distance between the subject vehicle and the obstacle and informthe driver of the determined possibility. The sensor unit may include atleast one of a camera device configured to sense a distance between thesubject vehicle and an obstacle, a Lidar device, and a radar device.

The driver may select whether to perform automatic parking. When thedriver selects the automatic parking, the controller may be configuredto automatically operate the subject vehicle to park the subject vehiclein an optimal parking area, and when the driver does not select theautomatic parking, the driver may directly or manually park the subjectvehicle in the optimal parking area. When the driver turns off anexecution switch of the automatic parking mode or shifts the gear toparking (P) during the automatic parking, the subject vehicle may stop.Accordingly, the controller may be configured to request the driver toselect whether to maintain the automatic parking mode through thedisplay controller. Based on an intention of the driver, the automaticparking mode may be executed again or terminated.

Further, when the gear is shifted to another gear other than parking (P)during the automatic parking, and when the steering is changed to apredetermined degree or greater, the vehicle may stop. For example,steering change of a predetermined degree may indicate a steering changeof about 5 Nm of torque applied to the steering wheel. Accordingly, thecontroller may be configured to request the driver to select whether tomaintain the automatic parking mode through the display controller.Based on an intention of the driver, the automatic parking mode may beexecuted again or terminated.

Additionally, when the braking is performed to a predetermined degree orgreater during the automatic parking, the controller may be configuredto determine that the braking of the driver should be preferentiallyperformed, rather than application of the automatic parking system. Inother words, the subject vehicle may stop by the brake engagement of thedriver (S55 and S60). In addition, the automatic parking mode may beterminated following the intention of the driver. The driver may turnoff the execution switch of the automatic parking mode (the first type)or cancel the execution of the automatic parking mode using the remotecontroller (the second type) (S70).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a parking area at the time of parallelparking according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention,and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a parking area in which there is aparking line at the time of parallel parking according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, it may be possible to detect parking areasin which parallel parking may be executed using the sensor unit attachedto a subject vehicle 10. The sensor unit may be configured to detect aparking line 21, a curb 22 disposed around parking areas, and a spacebetween surrounding vehicles 50, and the controller may be configured tocalculate parking areas by calculating whether the spaces are a space inwhich the subject vehicle 10 may be parked based on such information(e.g., determining whether the vehicle would be capable of fitting intothe parking space due to the spatial constraints). In particular, thecontroller may then be configured to calculate an optimal parking area20 most suitable for parking among parking areas. The controller mayalso be configured to select an optimal parking area 20 based on alength and a width of the subject vehicle 10.

Referring to FIG. 3, the controller may be configured to calculate theoptimal parking area 20 by calculating a space between surroundingvehicles 50. The curb 22 may assist in defining a space betweensurrounding vehicles 50. Further, the sensor unit may be configured tosense an alignment line of the surrounding vehicles 50 parked inparallel to assist in calculating the optimal parking area 20. Theoptimal parking area 20 may have a length X1 that extends in a directionin which the surrounding vehicles 50 are parked, and a width Y1 thatextends in a direction perpendicular to that of the length X1. Thelength X1 may be a value obtained by adding a length of the subjectvehicle 10 and first room (+a), and the width Y1 may be a value obtainedby adding a width of the subject vehicle 10 and second room (+b).

For example, when the length of the subject vehicle 10 is short (e.g.,about 4 m or less), the first room (+a) may satisfy +a=4 m×0.25 when thelength of the subject vehicle 10 is long (e.g., 6 m or greater), thefirst room (+a) may satisfy +a=6 m×0.25, and the second room (+b) may be0.2 m. In other words, the controller may be configured to calculate theoptimal parking area 20 by considering the length and the width of thesubject vehicle 10.

Referring to FIG. 4, the sensor unit may be configured to sense theparking line 21, and the controller may be configured to determinewhether the subject vehicle 10 may be parked by calculating a length X1and a width Y1 of the parking line 21. The parking line 21 may have acontrast range of at least 5. The parking line 21 may have a constantwidth W1, and the controller may be configured to determine whether itis an optimal parking area 20 by considering the length X1, the widthY1, and the width W1 of the parking line 21.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a parking area at the time of perpendicularparking according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention,and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a parking area in which there is aparking line at the time of perpendicular parking according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, it may be possible to detect parking areasin which perpendicular parking may be executed through the sensor unitattached to the subject vehicle. The sensor unit may be configured todetect a parking line 21 and a space between surrounding vehicles 50,and the controller may be configured to calculate parking areas bycalculating whether the spaces are a space in which the subject vehiclemay be parked based on such information (e.g., whether the vehicle iscapable of fitting into the space due to spatial constraints).

Referring to FIG. 5, the controller may be configured to calculate theoptimal parking area 20 by calculating a space between surroundingvehicles 50. The optimal parking area 20 may have a width Y2 thatextends in a direction in which the surrounding vehicles 50 are parked,and a length 2 that extends in a direction perpendicular to that of thewidth Y2. The length X2 may be similar to the length of the subjectvehicle, and the width Y2 may correspond to a value obtained by addingthe width of the subject vehicle and third room (+c). For example, thethird room (+c) may be about 1.2 m.

Referring to FIG. 6, the sensor unit may be configured to sense theparking line 21, and the controller may be configured to determinewhether the subject vehicle 10 may be parked by calculating a length X2and a width Y2 of the parking line 21. The parking line 21 may have acontrast range of at least 5. The parking line 21 may have a constantwidth W2, and the controller may be configured to determine whether itis an optimal parking area 20 by considering the length X2, the widthY2, and the width W2 of the parking line 21. For example, when thesubject vehicle is a large vehicle (e.g., a truck, SUV, or the like),the length X2 may be greater than the length of the subject vehicle byabout 1.0 m, and the width Y2 may be greater than the width of thesubject vehicle by about 0.06 m. In other words, the controller may beconfigured to calculate the optimal parking area 20 by considering thelength and the width of the subject vehicle 10.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an image of a top view format obtained bybeing converted and synthesized by virtual camera modeling according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 1and 7, when the camera processor 110 is implemented as the AVM, theimages around the subject vehicle may be photographed at 360° in alldirections with respect to the subject vehicle. The virtual cameramodeling may be performed by the parking space recognizing unit 150 orthe controller 200 (which may be included in the AVM) photographedthrough the AVM, and as a result, may be converted into the externalimage that is a two-dimensional (2D) image. In particular, the externalimage may be a top view, that is, a bird's eye view image, such as whenviewing the vehicle from the top of the subject vehicle.

FIGS. 8 to 11 are diagrams showing a process of recognizing a parkingarea of a parking space recognizing unit according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 8 to 11, acorner detection technology for comparing two consecutive images torecognize parking areas may be used. The corner detection technology,which is a technology of recognizing an image by extracting corners ofobjects included in the image, is generally used to determine adifference between the consecutive images.

Particularly, in the image processing and recognizing fields, the cornerinformation becomes an important reference point in fields such as shapeand tracking, and therefore the present invention may use the cornerdetection as described above to recognize the images around theconsecutively photographed top view type vehicle, thereby extractingmain feature points. Among the corner detection technologies asdescribed above, the most representative Harris corner detectiontechnology may be used. However, the corner detection technology may notbe limited thereto.

When the main feature points of two consecutive images are extracted,the controller 200 may be configured to match and compare the featurepoints of the two consecutive images. The known normalized crosscorrelation (NCC) technology may be used to match the feature points ofthe two consecutive images. The NCC technology is a technology fornormalizing two images to compare the two images with each other. Thecontroller 200 may use the NCC technology to normalize and compare thetwo consecutive images that vary based on the movement of the vehicle.In particular, the controller 200 may use brightness values of 7×7square area pixels around the feature points of the two consecutiveimages as descriptors of the feature points, normalize them using theNCC technology to match each feature point with each other, and measuresimilarity.

As described above, when the respective feature points of the twoconsecutive images normalized are matched with each other, asillustrated in FIG. 10, the step of deleting the mismatched featurepoints may be performed. The step of deleting the mismatched featurepoints may be performed to extract an angular difference between the twoconsecutive images using a similarity transformation model and compareonly valid feature points using a random sample consensus (RANSAC)technology displacement difference. The RANSAC technology is awell-known technology of predicting factors of a mathematical model froma series of data sets including false information (mismatched featurepoints in the embodiment of the present invention) by a repetitiveoperation.

In particular, the controller 200 may be configured to recognize themismatched feature points using the RANSAC technology and delete thosefeature points. When the mismatched feature points are deleted asdescribed above and the valid feature points are selected, asillustrated in FIG. 11, the process of matching the images based on theestimated valid feature points may be performed. In other words, themovement trajectory of the vehicle may be recognized and the position ofthe vehicle may be estimated, by continuously performing the steps ofFIGS. 8 to 10 and continuously matching the consecutive images based onthe movement of the vehicle.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a spaced distance at thetime of automatic parking according to a second exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. The driver's seat side distance a refers to aspaced distance between the subject vehicle and surrounding vehiclespositioned on a driver's seat side of the subject vehicle and apassenger seat side distance b refers to a distance between the subjectvehicle and the surrounding vehicles positioned on the passenger seatside.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 10, when the subject vehicle enters theoptimal parking area, the spaced distance between the subject vehicleand the surrounding vehicles may be adjusted. When the extractedpassenger side distance b is less than the predetermined referencedistance d when the subject vehicle enters the optimal parking area, thespace may be determined to be insufficient (e.g., too small) and whenthe driver's seat side distance a is sufficient to meet the referencedistance d after a parking space with respect to the passenger seat sidedistance b is secured, a control to secure a spare space may beperformed.

When the driver's seat side distance a is insufficient, the minimumspaced distance control may be performed. In other words, as in thepresent exemplary embodiment, the conditions under which the spare spacesecuring control is performed are that the spaced distance between thevehicle and the passenger side vehicle is less than the referencedistance (b<d) and the spaced distance between the vehicle and thepassenger side vehicle is adjusted to be reference distance and then thespaced distance between the vehicle and the driver's seat side vehiclepositioned on the driver's side of the vehicle is equal to or greaterthan the critical distance.

In particular, the critical distance may be expressed by the sum of thepredetermined minimum spaced distance and |d−b|. In other words, whena≥minimum spaced distance+|d−b|, the spare space securing control may beperformed, and the controller may be configured to operate the subjectvehicle to adjust the distance between the vehicle and the passengerseat side vehicle to be the reference distance. A distance controlamount corresponds to d−b.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a spaced distance at thetime of automatic parking according to a second exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. Referring to FIG. 13, when the extractedpassenger side distance b is less than the reference distance when thesubject vehicle enters the optimal parking area, the space may bedetermined to be insufficient and when the driver's seat side distance ais insufficient to meet the reference distance d after the parking spacewith respect to the passenger seat side distance b is secured, theminimum spaced distance control may be performed.

In other words, as in the present exemplary embodiment, the conditionsunder which the minimum spaced distance control is performed are thatthe spaced distance between the subject vehicle and the passenger sidevehicle is less than the reference distance (b<d) and the spaceddistance between the vehicle and the passenger side vehicle is adjustedto be reference distance and then the spaced distance between thesubject vehicle and the driver's seat side vehicle positioned on thedriver's side of the subject vehicle is less than a critical distance.

In particular, the critical distance may be expressed by the sum of thepredetermined minimum spaced distance and |d−b|. In other words, whena<minimum spaced distance+|d−b|, the minimum spaced distance control maybe performed, and the controller may be configured to operate thesubject vehicle to adjust the distance between the subject vehicle andthe passenger seat side vehicle to be the predetermined minimum spaceddistance. The minimum spaced distance may be set to be a distance from aparking line between the subject vehicle and the driver's seat sidevehicle to the subject vehicle or may be set to any value, and thedistance control amount to which the vehicle moves corresponds to a−c.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it maybe possible to provide the automatic parking system capable of settingan optimal parking area among parking areas to automatically performparking from a current position of a subject vehicle to the optimalparking area. According to the exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the images around the vehicle may be acquired using the AVMsystem and converted into the top view image, thereby recognizing thesituations around the vehicle in real time and recognizing the parkingspace in any direction around the vehicle.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theimages around the vehicle may be continuously photographed to beregistered, and the consecutive images may be compared with each otherto perform the parking space and the parking line to show the paththrough which the vehicle passes and display the optimal parking space,thereby improving the reliability of parking and the accuracy. Further,it may be possible to improve the stability of the parking assistancesystem by providing the top view based image to the driver andvisualizing the parking process.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it maybe possible to allow a driver conveniently enter and exit a subjectvehicle and surrounding vehicles by adjusting the spaced distance fromthe surrounding vehicles parked on both sides of the subject vehiclewhen the automatic parking system is performed. Additionally, it may bepossible to readjust the spaced distance between the subject vehicle andthe surrounding vehicles in response to determining that the space isinsufficient to enter or exit the vehicles based on the detected parkingcondition.

Meanwhile, it is to be understood that a partially automated parkingsystem is described in the present specification by way of example forconvenience of explanation. As described above, the PAPS is merely oneof several advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) functions, and itis to be understood that implementation of the PAPS suggested in thepresent invention may also be used for implementation of other relevantADAS functions. For example, the method suggested in the presentinvention may also be used to implement one function or a combination ofa plurality of functions ADAS functions such as a PAPS, a land departurewarning system (LDWS), a lane keeping assistance system (LKAS), apedestrian detection and collision mitigation system (PDCMS), a forwardvehicle collision warning system (FVCWS), a low speed following (LSF), amaneuvering aids for low speed operation (MALSO) and an extended rangebacking aid (ERBA), etc.

Further, an arbitrary connection is appropriately referred to as anon-transitory computer-readable medium. For example, when software istransmitted from a website, a server, or other remote source by using acoaxial cable, an optical fiber cable, a twisted-pair cable, a digitalsubscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio,and ultra high frequency, the coaxial cable, the optical fiber cable,the twisted-pair cable, the DSL, or the wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and ultra high frequency are included in definition ofthe medium. The disk and disc as used herein includes a compact disc, alaser disc, an optical disc, a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppydisc, and a Blu-ray disc, and disks generally magnetically reproducedata, but discs optically reproduces data by laser. The abovecombinations also should be included in a range of the computer-readablemedium.

When the exemplary embodiments are implemented by a program code or codesegments, it is to be recognized that the code segment may represent aprocedure, a function, a sub-program, a program, a routine, asub-routine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combinationof commands, data structures, or program instructions. The code segmentmay be connected to another code segment or a hardware circuit bytransferring and/or receiving information, data, an argument, aparameter, or memory contents. The information, the argument, theparameter, the data, and the like may be transferred, sent, ortransmitted by using any appropriate means including memory share,message transmission, token transmission, network transmission, etc. Inaddition, in some aspects, steps and/or operations of a method or analgorithm may reside as one of codes and/or commands or any combinationor a set thereof on a machine-readable medium and/or a computer-readablemedium that may be integrated as a computer program object.

In the implementation as software, technologies described herein may beimplemented by modules (e.g. procedure, function, etc.) performing thefunctions described herein. The software codes may be stored in memoryunits and may be executed by processors. A memory unit may beimplemented in a processor or outside the processor, and in this case,the memory unit may be connected to the processor in a manner that thememory unit may perform communication with the processor by variousmeans as known in the art.

In implementation as hardware, processing units may be implemented byone or more of an application specific integrated chip (ASIC), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), a digital signal processing device (DSPD), aprogrammable logic device (PLD), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),a processor, a controller, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, andother electronic units designed to perform the functions describedherein, or in a combination thereof.

The above description includes an example of one or more exemplaryembodiments. It is apparent that those skilled in the art may recognizethat every possible combinations of components or method may not bedescribed for explanation of the above described exemplary embodiments,but additional combination and substitution of various exemplaryembodiments may be possible. Therefore, the described exemplaryembodiments include all alternatives, changes, and modifications withinthe spirit and scope of the accompanying claims.

As used herein, a term “inferring” or “inference” generally refers to aprocess of determining or inferring a state of a system, an environment,and/or a user based on observation of one set captured by events and/ordata. The inference may be used to identify a specific situation oroperation, or may generate probability distribution with respect to, forexample, states. The inference may be probabilistic, that is, may becalculation of probability distribution with respect to correspondingstates based on consideration of data and events. The inference may alsorefer to technologies used to configure upper level events from one setof events and/or data. Such inference enables estimation of new eventsor operations from one set of observed events and/or stored event data,whether events are closely related in time, and whether events and datacome from one or several events and data sources.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic parking system, comprising: a cameraprocessor configured to acquire images around a subject vehicle, andconvert the acquired images into external images and synthesize theexternal images; a sensor processor configured to measure spaceddistances between the subject vehicle and surrounding vehicles; aparking space recognizing unit configured to periodically receive thespaced distances and the external images and sequentially compare theconsecutive external images with the spaced distances using an imagerecognition technology to recognize parking areas; and a controllerconfigured to calculate a moving path between a current position of thesubject vehicle and an optimal parking area among the parking areas andoperate the subject vehicle based on the moving path, wherein theparking space recognizing unit is configured to detect the parking areasbased on a length and a width of the subject vehicle.
 2. The automaticparking system of claim 1, wherein the parking space recognizing unit isconfigured to extract feature points of the consecutive images using theimage recognition technology, match the feature points of the twoconsecutive images, delete mismatched feature points, and match validfeature points to recognize the parking areas.
 3. The automatic parkingsystem of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to operate thesubject vehicle to prevent the subject vehicle from colliding withobstacles using data acquired by the sensor processor and the cameraprocessor, while the subject vehicle moves along the moving path.
 4. Theautomatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the sensor processor isconfigured to sense spaced distances between the surrounding vehiclespositioned at a side of the subject vehicle in the optimal parking area,and the controller is configured to operate the subject vehicle toadjust a first spaced distance from a passenger seat side vehiclepositioned on a passenger seat side of the subject vehicle to be apredetermined reference distance based on the space distances.
 5. Theautomatic parking system of claim 4, wherein the controller isconfigured to adjust the first spaced distance to be the referencedistance when the first spaced distance is less than the referencedistance and determine whether a second spaced distance between thesubject vehicle and a driver's seat side vehicle positioned on thedriver's seat of the subject vehicle is equal to or greater than thereference distance.
 6. The automatic parking system of claim 5, whereinthe controller is configured to operate the subject vehicle to adjustthe second spaced distance to be the reference distance when the secondspaced distance is equal to or greater than the reference distance. 7.The automatic parking system of claim 5, wherein the controller isconfigured to operate the subject vehicle to adjust the second spaceddistance to be a predetermined minimum spaced distance when the secondspaced distance is less than the reference distance.
 8. The automaticparking system of claim 7, wherein the minimum spaced distance is set tobe a distance between a main lane positioned between the subject vehicleand the driver's seat side vehicle and the subject vehicle.
 9. Theautomatic parking system of claim 4, wherein the controller isconfigured to determine whether a second spaced distance between thesubject vehicle and a driver's seat side vehicle positioned on thedriver's seat side of the subject vehicle is equal to or greater than apredetermined critical distance when the first spaced distance is lessthan the reference distance, and the critical distance is set to be avalue obtained by adding a predetermined minimum spaced distance to amoving distance of the first spaced distance to adjust the first spaceddistance to be the reference distance.
 10. The automatic parking systemof claim 1, wherein the sensor processor is configured to detectsurrounding parking around the optimal parking area and a parking line.11. The automatic parking system of claim 1, further comprising: adisplay controller configured to output a notification to a driverregarding the parking areas, wherein the controller is configured tooperate the subject vehicle to be driven in the optimal parking areaselected by the driver.
 12. The automatic parking system of claim 1,wherein the controller is configured to adjust steering, acceleration,brake, gear shift, and parking brake of the subject vehicle.
 13. Theautomatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the external image is a topview image of the subject vehicle viewed from a top of the subjectvehicle.
 14. An automatic parking method for automatically parking asubject vehicle, comprising: receiving, by a controller, a userselection of an automatic parking mode; detecting, by the controller,parking areas using external images around the subject vehicle, spaceddistances between the subject vehicle and surrounding vehicles, and alength and a width of the subject vehicle; selecting, by the controller,an optimal parking area among the parking areas; and automaticallyparking, by the controller, the subject vehicle in the optimal parkingarea, wherein in the detecting of the parking areas, the parking areasare recognized by sequentially comparing the consecutive external imageswith the spaced distances using an image recognition technology.
 15. Theautomatic parking method of claim 14, further comprising: terminating,by the controller, the automatic parking mode, after automaticallyparking the subject vehicle, wherein the terminating of the automaticparking mode is performed by turning off an automatic parking modeswitch or shifting a gear to a park mode.
 16. The automatic parkingmethod of claim 14, wherein in the automatically parking of the subjectvehicle, when an automatic parking mode switch is turned off or a gearis shifted to a parking mode, the automatic parking mode is terminated.17. The automatic parking method of claim 14, wherein in theautomatically parking of the subject vehicle, when any one of gearshift, steering change, and brake operation is performed, the automaticparking mode is stopped.
 18. The automatic parking method of claim 14,wherein the spaced distances include a first spaced distance between thesubject vehicle and a passenger seat side vehicle positioned on apassenger side of the subject vehicle and a second spaced distancebetween the subject vehicle and a driver's seat side vehicle positionedon the driver's seat of the subject vehicle, and in the automaticallyparking of the subject vehicle, the subject vehicle is operated toadjust the first spaced distance and the second spaced distance to be apredetermined reference distance.
 19. The automatic parking method ofclaim 14, wherein the detecting of the parking areas includes:extracting, by the controller, feature points of the consecutive imagesusing the image recognition technology; deleting, by the controller,mismatched feature points by matching the feature points of the twoconsecutive images; and matching, by the controller, images based onvalid feature points.